Through proportional representation electoral systems, like-minded groupings of voters win legislative seats in better proportion to their share of the population. Whereas winner-take-all elections award 100% of power to a 50.1% majority, proportional representation allows voters in a minority to win a fair share of representation. Proportional representation describes a broad range of methods that require at least some legislators to be elected in districts with more than one seat.

Proportional representation voting systems used in the United States include choice voting (voters rank candidates, and seats are allocated by efficiently distributing voters preferences using a proportional formula), cumulative voting (voters cast as many votes as seats and can give multiple votes to one candidate), and limited voting (voters have fewer votes than seats). Internationally, some proportional representation systems are based on voting for political parties, others for candidates. Some allow very small groupings of voters to win seats; others require higher thresholds of support to win representation. The common thread that defines proportional representation is promoting more accurate, balanced representation of the spectrum of political opinion. More than 100 communities in the United States use proportional representation, the Democrats require states to nominate presidential convention delegates by proportional representation, and almost all emerging democracies have chosen proportional representation. This family of electoral systems is becoming the international norm, with Iraq, Afghanistan, and the entire Eastern Bloc being recent welcome additions to the global community of proportional representation nations.

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May 28th 2005
Ashdown backs vote reform campaign
The Independent

The former Liberal Democrat leader adds his support to the movement toward full representation.

May 28th 2005
Women run the country but it doesn't show in pay packets
The New Zealand Herald

Although women are still struggling for equality in New Zealand, their numbers in Parliament jumped to 31 percent in the first election under mixed-member full representation in 1996.

May 27th 2005
Minister appears to show support for poll reform
Financial Times

A Constitutional Affairs minister supports replacing the current first-past-the-post system in Great Britain.

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